CSU to build cancer supercluster

FORT COLLINS, COLO. — Colorado State University (CSU) announced it will build its second supercluster, this one for cancer research and treatment, along with NeoTREX, an embedded business enterprise dedicated to speeding the transition of cancer research from the academic world to the global marketplace.

The concept has received a great deal of national and international attention because of its potential to transform the way universities handle technology transfer.

The supercluster will focus on new and existing cancer research from five colleges across the university, with the goal of developing effective treatments and products and creating a system to move these advances quickly into the marketplace.

Dr. Stephen Withrow

The cancer supercluster is a collaboration of the university's Colleges of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Natural Sciences, Applied Human Sciences, Agricultural Sciences and Engineering. It builds on more than three decades of cancer research currently funded by organizations such as NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, Morris Animal Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy, CSU reports.

Dr. Terry Opgenorth, formerly of Abbott Laboratories, was named chief operating officer for NeoTREX, and COO of MicroRx, the business arm of the university's first supercluster focused on infectious disease research. The academic side of the supercluster will be under the direction of Dr. Stephen Withrow, director of the university's Animal Cancer Center. Dr. Robert Ullrich, current director of research in oncology for the Animal Cancer Center and a professor in the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, will serve as the cancer supercluster's director of research. Withrow and Ullrich will serve as chief scientific officer and chief research officer, respectively, of NeoTREX.

The supercluster concept was created by CSU President Larry Edward Penley and Provost and Senior Vice President Tony Frank as a way to deploy the innovations derived from the university's research laboratories more rapidly to address the most serious global challenges, including cancer and infectious disease.

Spurring discovery: CSU's Stephen Withrow will lead the university's academic efforts in oncology collaboration. The goal: speed discovery and technology transfer.

Superclusters are built around alliances of researchers, economists and business experts organized to address global challenges, encourage collaboration and bridge the worlds of business and academia.

"We are excited to begin work within the cancer supercluster and NeoTREX. NeoTREX will translate scientific research from CSU to the marketplace, so that cancer solutions are developed and delivered faster," says Penley. "Our Supercluster model encourages researchers' direct collaboration with industry experts, enabling faculty to focus on what they do best — innovation and research — and takes advantage of the corporate drive to market for that research for public benefit."